State Legislature lessens TAKS’ importance

April Castro

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, April 28, 2009

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State Legislature lessens TAKS’ importance

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AUSTIN - Standardized tests would take a backseat to preparing students for success after high school in an overhaul of the state’s public school accountability system adopted Wednesday in both chambers of the Legislature.

Both the House and Senate unanimously approved similar versions of a bill that would lessen the importance of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in measuring the performance of public schools.

The bills also would change high school graduation requirements, grade promotion requirements and the measures by which schools and school districts are held accountable both financially and academically.

School ratings would be based on three years of test scores, among other things, rather than the most recent year.

School districts would be able to decide some of their own criteria for assessment and students would be given more flexibility to choose electives.

“We’re going to bring a new era into public education,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. “This expects schools to educate students at a true level of college readiness.”

The plan also would give low-performing schools an additional year before they must be closed, allow students more flexibility in their elective courses and allows school districts to decide some of their own criteria for assessment.

Students would still have to complete four years of mathematics, science, English and social studies under the plan, but it would also require two credits of a language other than English and eight elective credits.

The new requirements would apply to students entering the ninth grade in 2011 and would be fully implemented in 2014.

Under the current system, every school and district in the state is graded based on annual TAKS scores and student dropout rates, with exemplary being the top rating. State ratings are anxiously awaited by superintendents, teachers and parents because they are the chief measure of how well schools are educating their students.

But educators and parents have increasingly voiced dissatisfaction with the grading system that was first implemented in 1994.

“Exemplary implies that they are exemplary in everything they do, not just in passing a TAKS test,” said Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, who carried the legislation in the House.

“The TAKS was meant to be diagnostic, not high stakes.”

But, teacher groups say the proposal does not go far enough to ease the burden of standardized tests.

“Although the two accountability bills allow some options for schools to report student progress on standardized tests, they don’t bring any concrete reduction to the reliance on standardized testing Texas students face today,” said Jerry Bonham, a Mesquite teacher who is president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators.

“Preparing students for post-secondary success is a positive step, but the standards-setting process is still unclear. It also fails to hold schools accountable for making sure that each child is guaranteed the benefit of teachers who are certified in the subjects to which they are assigned.”

Shapiro said the changes would help make education relevant to students’ lives and interests.

“I know some have concerns about removing the prescriptive course requirements for students, but this proposal values a student and parent’s ability to choose the electives that best meet the student’s needs and interests,” Shapiro said.